10 Reasons Why You Should Reduce Paper Use in Your Business

Paper, an indispensable material in our life, has its
presence amongst us since the Han Dynasty (202 BCE-CE 220) in China. Since then,
various techniques have been developed and documented related to papermaking.
It has played a pivotal role in every era and in every field and has vast
applications.

Education, politics, businesses, households, there is no
field that is untouched by this invention. But, as technology advancement has
taken place at a very fast rate, there are various types of documentation
techniques developed that are proving to be extremely useful as well.

Even though the paper is extremely useful in many ways, its use has various disadvantages as well (including environmental), and hence, various reasons can be sighted upon to be sure of going paperless.

Currently, various software and hardware are available that provide us the facility of taking a step into this regard, like cloud technology and various other storage devices. Following are certain reasons that may be looked upon to go paperless

1. Cost Saving

Going paperless
reduces the expenditure of the company on buying paper. Using both sides
printing, or 2 pages on a single paper also reduces the use of paper, which
ultimately saves the paper utilization and hence the company’s money as well.

Also, a large amount of paper is usually wasted in
organizations daily, which goes into the bin, and hence, it leads to the
wastage of paper and money.

As per Mosspaper, “Companies such Citigroup started enforces little changes
such as printing double-sided to conserve one sheet of paper each week.
Citigroup calculated savings worth $700,000 each year from this change in
policy. While Bank of America has implemented changes like putting account
forms and invoices online, which has saved the company over $10 million, not
including the savings in postage and storage.”

2. Encryption

As files stored and important information documented in paper
can be read by anybody, and most of the confidential information can be leaked
by some deceitful people, the security issue is always there if some vital
information is mentioned in a hard copy.

This may cause a big loss to any of the organization if data
is made available to the competitors affecting its growth. Hence, storing the
information as a soft copy in any of the storage devices, i.e., either in a pen
drive, hard disk, online on cloud, or any other storage media can be easily
encrypted.

So, the file can only be accessed by the person who is aware
of the password or if the file is compatible with any particular device only.
Hence, there is no issue of security if the paperless method is used for
storage purpose.

3. Storage Resolution

Since the files and documents of papers require a lot of
storage space, additional infrastructure has to be arranged for the same. It
even incurs additional costs related to the infrastructure and space required
for it.

But, storing the data as a soft copy in any of the storage
devices (pen drives, hard disks, or cloud storage like Google Drive, Dropbox)
removes any hustle required for the arrangement of infrastructure and
additional space required for the infrastructure storage as well.

4. No Fear of Data Loss

During any damage or destruction or any natural calamity, if
the files and documents are destroyed, it is almost impossible to recover the
same, and hence, valuable and necessary information is lost.

This is usually the cause of concern of all the organizations,
and hence, normal operation of the business is affected by it. However, if the
data is store in any of the hardware device and on cloud which is one of the
biggest demand of all the businesses in today’s advancing world, the data is
stored at the data centers by the cloud service providers and hence, the
business owners and any of the employees or any data stored will never be lost.

This removes the worry related to the loss of valuable
information, which is otherwise not possible with the system utilizing paper
for the documentation.

5. Data Recovery

The papers, if lost or damaged or burnt somehow, cannot be
recovered, and hence, the information is lost forever. Moreover, if the data is
lost in our system or in the pen drive or if the pen drive or the storage device
itself is lost, it becomes difficult to retrieve.

But, if data is stored on cloud storage applications, it can
be recovered anytime without any delay as data is always secured and protected
on cloud servers by the cloud service providers.

6. Environmental Factors

As the paper is manufactured from the pulp of trees and
hence, trees are cut regularly for this purpose by the papermaking industries,
it adversely affects the environment and hence, the climatic conditions.

Wildlife is destroyed, and regular activities of human beings
are also hampered due to deforestation. Hence, keeping this also as one of the
concerns, the reduction in the use of paper by businesses will prove to be
beneficial for not only businesses but mankind as well.\

As per Environmental Paper Network, “Since the 1960s, world consumption of paper has quadrupled,
and use of printing paper has increased six-fold. Just 10% of the world’s
population (western Europe and North America) consumes more than 50% of the
world’s paper.”

7. Accessibility

A large amount of files is obviously difficult to carry, and
hence, transportation of them is a big issue by any organization. In fact,
during transportation as well, the files may be lost if they fall accidentally
by the person carrying them, and hence, special care is necessary for this
purpose.

But, if data is stored online, it can be easily sent to the
other person through e-mail irrespective of the location, or if the data is
stored in a pen drive, it is easy to carry the same irrespective of the size of
the data. Hence, transfer of data has become an easy task for any business due
to the advancement in technology.

8. Better Organization

Proper arrangement of each file and document in an orderly
manner manually is a very tedious and time-consuming method. Even if arranged
properly initially, but if due to some or the other reason the files get
shuffled, it becomes quite a difficult task to arrange them.

But, storing data online and sorting them in a proper and orderly
manner is just a clock away, and hence, data is organized as per the
requirement.

9. Better Time Management

Since the data stored offline or as a hard copy requires
proper arrangement manually in an orderly manner, the time consumed is also
more than that of the same, if done online.

Further, if many employees or the members have to work on the
same file, it can only be done one by one, and hence, here also time
consumption is more. But, if any file is stored online, the same can be
accessed by n number of people irrespective of their location and can work
simultaneously on the same.

Hence, a parallel and simultaneous operation is possible if
businesses go paperless and utilize cloud technology. Thus, it increases the
efficiency and productivity of the employees and hence, the business.

Also, the time of authorized signatories is usually wasted in
signing the documents, which can also be avoided by adopting the policy of
e-signatures and hence, further saving the time.

10. Easy to Locate the Data

Searching a particular sheet or any file in a large pile of
the same or even in a cupboard is actually difficult and time-consuming in
comparison to the same if stored online which can be easily located by just a
click or just by entering the name of the particular file. Hence, the required
data can be obtained easily without any hassle without any time delay.

Hence, going paperless is actually advantageous for all the
businesses as well as for mankind, as discussed above. Various ways can be
adopted for the same, like cloud technology, digital documents, e-signatures,
etc.

RTDS provides advanced IT solutions in the field of communication and cloud computing to customers all around the world for over a decade. The company empowers businesses across the globe with technology solutions that take care of their various operations.